PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas producer Santos has amended and extended its two syndicated bank loan facilities totalling $1.25-billion.
The facilities comprise a $250-million fully-revolving loan maturing in August 2025 and a $1-billion fully-revolving loan maturing in February 2028.
The loans bear a floating interest rate over the secured overnight funding rate (SOFR) with a margin that references Santos’ external credit rating, currently 1.3% a year for the three-year facility and 1.5% a year for the 5.5-year facility.
The facilities received strong support from Santos’ existing syndicated banking relationships and proceeds will be used initially to refinance existing drawn bank loans maturing in 2024 and 2026, and thereafter for general corporate purposes.
Following refinancing of the existing facilities, Santos will have no significant debt maturities until 2027, excluding the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project finance which is serviced directly from project cash flows.
Santos CFO Anthea McKinnell said the syndicated facilities were consistent with the company’s strategy of securing flexible and competitively priced funding.
“This is an excellent result for Santos, showing strong support from our bank lenders and demonstrating our ability to access bank debt at competitive terms. The facilities are fully-revolving, which provides significant flexibility and lower borrowing costs when not drawn.
“With these facilities in place, we now have no significant corporate debt maturities until 2027.”